Operation DARK
by InfiniteAmmo
Summary: Five Marines must stand together to stop a Covenant strike on Earth years after the war for the Halos. But what could the Covenant be looking for? It may take a while for new chapters, but it will continue.
1. Chapter 1 Sand Trap

_Desert Wasteland_

_Codename SANDTRAP_

_3 Months before reassignment._

"This is Hornet V-89, over. We have reached the perimeter."

"V-89, this is Rat's Nest. Solid copy, you are clear to disengage, over'

The pilot turned to his passenger, who was beginning to look anxious.

"Okay, sir. You're clear to drop. When you link up with your squad-

"I understand the procedures" he said, visibly annoyed. "Prepare to disengage in 5…4…3…2…Drop"

He leapt out of the Hornet, bracing himself as he hit the sand and rolled.

_I'll never get used to this _he thought to himself. He looked up and gave the signal, secretly wondering why it was necessary. There hadn't been any real military action in the UNSC for years.

"Time to get dirty" He mumbled, loading an SMG.

"Blue Squad, this is Gunnery Sergeant Kingston. I need a sitrep and your current position, over…Damnit, nothin' but dust and echoes out here. Gotta find an Elephant, get a better Com link." As he looked around, he noticed a crane of an Elephant sticking out from behind a tower of the ruins.

_There's my radio…Why the hell aren't they responding? This was a land scouting exercise, not trench warfare! _He thought to himself. As he headed to the back ramp of the Elephant, his worst fears came true: five dead Marines, all with hideous cut wounds on their bodies.

"What the hell?! What could have killed all of them?!"

_Wait a minute… this was a __**six **__man squad, so…_

"Blue Squad members, report! That's an order!

"Sir? Over here."

He looked up to see a young, wounded Marine in the cockpit. He rushed up to help.

"You okay, soldier?"

"Yes, sir. Just a bad bruise."

"What's your name, son?"

"Will Holliman. Blue Squad sniper regiment, 3rd division"

"Good to meet you. I'm Blue Squad second Gunnery Sgt. Michael Kingston, but call me Mike. Uh, what the hell happened out here?"

"Been trying to figure that out myself" Will said uncertainly. "Last I remember, we were attacked by something…" He trailed off, unsure of what else to say.

"Like an animal, maybe?" Mike tried to refresh the soldiers memory, desperate to know what had killed so many men.

"No, sir. I know this sounds crazy, but I think it was a Covenant. An Elite…?"

"Covenant. Out here. This long after the war?" Mike was starting to doubt this Marine. "Are you sure you're not going into shock?"

"Sir, with all due respect, I know what I saw. It was wearing golden armor, and had some kind of sword. That's how it… killed them. It took all my ammo to neutralize it. But that was days ago."

_From his description, there seems to have been a Zealot. But why would it be out here? _Mike was starting to get worried.

_And I thought all the Elites went back home after the war… looks like ONI needs to hear about this._

"Listen, Will. For now, all that matters is getting you out of here. Can you walk?"

"Yes sir"

"Then set your boots on the line. I'm calling us a ride" He said, stepping over to the COM system. "Hornet V-89, this is Blue Squad Gunnery Sgt. Kingston. Requesting pickup, over."

--"Uh, sir? You'll need to contact Rat's Nest for a Pelican."--

"Yeah well, we only need a Hornet. Now get over here, that's an order!"

--"*sigh* Affirmative. Prepare for dustoff, over."-- 


	2. Chapter 2 ORBIT

_ONI O.R.B.I.T. Facility_

_Current [Operation D.A.R.K.] Briefing_

"Welcome to ONI Re-Briefing Internal Training facility" a robotic voice chimed in the elevator. "You are expected on the top floor"

It was three months since Mike had found Will Holliman in the wasteland. Three months since Gunnery Sgt. Kingston, the UNSC, and all of Humanity's worst fears had come true: the Covenant were _back._

_At least now we'll get some action! _Mike thought, trying to reassure himself. As the elevator hit the top floor, he was greeted by an ONI official.

"Sgt. Kingston? Nice to meet you, sir."

"Likewise, ma'am"

They shook hands. Farther out on the lobby, four Marines stood, waiting for the briefing to begin. Mike recognized Will, but the others were all from different Squads. One of them looked more preoccupied with the actual station than the briefing.

"Okay everyone, let's start with introductions. First off, we have your Sergeant, Michael Kingston."

"Good to meet you, sir" said one of the Marines, stepping forward to shake his hand. He was wearing ONI Security armor.

_Always the elitists, ONI. _Mike thought to himself while observing the Marine.

"That's Parke Aiken, your data and communications specialist" the official pointed out.

"Probably bugged, so ONI'll get all the credit" another Marine mentioned, just loud enough for the others to hear.

"That's your armor and heavy weapons specialist, Gunter Truman. He can get… irritated" the official added, trying not to get a fight started.

"Well I'm sure as hell gonna get 'irritated' when I'm reassigned 'cuz the UNSC is still scared of the Covenant!"

Mike decided he'd had enough out this soldier.

"Shut your mouth, that's an order! If you'd been enlisted during the Covenant wars, you'd be damned scared of the scared of the Covenant, too! I don't care if you like it, but you have been reassigned for this Operation. Now quit whinin' or go home."

After the brief outburst, the introductions continued.

"You already know Will; he'll be your sniper and reconnaissance. And finally, your pilot and technician is Robert Greene" she finished, pointing over to a Marine in E.V.A. armor, checking out an exhaust fume.

"Call me Robbie" he mumbled from under the pipe. Lifting his head out from under it, he added "Amazing exhaust system. Hmmm… Anyway, what does DARK stand for?"

"Defense And Reconnaissance: Kingston" Parke chirped, as if set to autopilot.

_Now I know why I'm here _Mike thought to himself with a smile.

"How did you know?" Robbie asked back. He obviously hadn't heard much of the conversation.

"Well, maybe you'd know, if you were PAYING ATTENTION" Parke snapped back.

"Hey, shut it, both of you!" Will yelled. It surprised most of them that he'd gotten angry after staying silent most of the briefing. "We have more important things to worry about than your attention spans!"

"Like what?" Gunter asked snidely.

"Like what this Operation is about" Mike cut in. Will's right, let's get on with the briefing"

"Okay, the main purpose of Operation D.A.R.K. is—"

WARNING! WARNING! INTRUDERS IN THE DOCKING BAYS. ALL PERSONNEL TO COMBAT READY STATIONS.

"Damn! Covenant attacks already?" Mike couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Okay Marines, load your weapons. Prepare for-

"No! You have to get back to Earth. Death or capture of any Operative is totally unacceptable." The official began loading a pistol. "There are ODST drop pods in the hangar. Go!"

"We can't just leave you all here" Mike argued. "We'll stay and-

"No, she's right" Parke broke in. "The best thing for us to do is to go prepare defenses on Earth."

"Alright then, to the hangar Marines. Move it!" Mike yelled, loading an SMG.

As they were running through the halls, Parke helped show them to the hangar.

"Should be straight ahead, down one floor!" He advised. All around them, explosions were ripping apart walls. Up ahead, they came to a shaft to the lower floor. On the other side, a Marine was taking cover from some Elites

"Major! Up above! More of the Heretics!" one of them yelled out.

"Destroy them!" the Major yelled, firing his weapon at Mike.

"Behind those boxes! Get to cover!" Mike yelled, diving behind the nearby crates. The others did the same.

"There's no other way to the hangar!" Robbie pointed, showing the hallway to be caved in. "What do we do?"

"Backlash clear!" Gunter instructed. "You're goin' back to planet Jackass!" he yelled, hefting a rocket launcher, and fired. After a large explosion, Will looked out to see that the Elite's bodies blown back 20 feet away.

"We're clear" he said, running and jumping the small gap, headed to the hangar. The others followed.

"Not bad for a first day, huh?" Robbie remarked, stepping into the drop pod.

"We'll see."


	3. Chapter 3 Standoff

_10 Miles from Standoff Military Base, East Africa_

_Aprox. 90 minutes after briefing_

"You okay, sir? You're lucky your pod hit close to base."

"Yeah. Can you get the hatch open for me? It's stuck."

"Sure thing" the Marine replied, grunting as he ripped the hatch off the drop pod.

"Thanks. I thought I was gonna die in there" said Mike, stepping out of the pod. _It's had to have been at least an hour. ONI's holding good_.

"We got the rest of your squad back at Standoff. Need a ride?" the Marine offered, gesturing to a nearby Warthog. "What the hell's goin' on up there? We lost contact with ONI over an hour ago!"

"Get me to your Sergeant at base" Mike said, hoping it wouldn't be too late. "We may have some Covie problems."

"Damn! Never thought I'd see 'em up close!" the Marine said, excited at some _real _action.

As they pulled up to the base, the Gunnery Sgt. came out to meet them, with Robbie and Gunter with him.

"Gunnery Sgt. Akov, glad to meet you, sir" he said, offering his hand.

"Sgt. Mike Kingston, good to meet you to" Mike replied, scanning the base. It was oddly devoid of tanks, turrets, and other standard Military equipment. "This is Standoff? I thought it was a major Military base."

"Actually, it's a high-caliber Military training facility" Akov replied, a little embarrassed.

"But we do have major contact with Rat's Nest."

--"Sir? It's Parke. Good to see you alive and well. Me and Will are over in the COM base, trying to connect to Rat's Nest."--

"Are you two okay? Hate to lose someone on the first day."

--"Will's pretty banged up, but he says he's fine. I landed softly, no injuries"--

"Any luck with contacting Rat's Nest? We gotta get some backup and armor, now!"

--"With ONI gone, I can't directly call them. I'd have to run a tech bypass, bug and old telephone cable…"--

"How long will that take!?" Mike was starting to get anxious. "There's no way we can survive a heavy wave fight."

--"Sir? New contact slipping in. Looks like Phantoms, high and slow. They don't know we're here yet."--

"They're here already!?" Akov smashed his hand against the Warthog. "Okay Marines! We've got weapons and ammo in the base. Get that turret up, and somebody get the Hog rollin'!"

"OORAH!" all the Marines replied in unison.

"Gunter, get up top, help out with the turret. And keep some rockets on ya." Gunter nodded. "I always do." As he left to help move the turret, Mike turned his attention to Robbie. "You and me are base defense" he said, walking to the armory.

"Aye aye, sir!" Robbie replied, loading a shotgun. After loading two SMG's, Mike Instructed Will and Parke. "You guys keep overwatch, and try to hurry with your phone call! Let's give them one hell of a surprise party!"

A few minutes passed, and nothing happened. A few of the Marines were starting to get testy. "Are they coming or not?" asked Akov jokingly. Then, as if by magic, 2 Zealot lances dropped out of a camouflaged Phantom, looking around. Suddenly, a white trail zipped through a Major's head. Then all hell broke loose. Rushing, the closest base, the Minors from the weakened lance barged through the door, but were easily mowed down by the above turret and well-trained marines inside. The remaining Major came next, but only managed to get a few shots off as it was rammed by the hidden Warthog. As the Warthog charged the other shocked lance, a Zealot attempted to board it. However, the turret on the back ripped it to shreds. By this time, the other lance attempted to break into the base. Most of the Minors were destroyed by the turret, but a Major made it inside, charging Robbie.

"Saved a little extra for ya!" Robbie yelled as the buckshot slammed the Major into the wall. The other Zealot outside was doing some damage with its rifles.

"Let me get that for you" Mike taunted as he sprinted at the Zealot, knocking it to the ground and spraying it with his SMG's. "So much for that" he commented, heading back into the base.

--"Sir, we've got new contacts. Phantoms… but there are some different Elites. They call themselves Brutals"--

"Lets see what they've got."

Then another wave dropped. This time, there were six Zealot lances, punctuated by 3 brown Elites.

"Those must be the Brutals" Akov observed.

"Let's teach 'em a lesson!" was Robbie's response.

This time, the Hog was ready. Rolling down the hill toward the drop zone, the gunner ripped apart the Lances with the machine gun, while ramming right at the crowd. By the time they retreated, they had done huge damage. Only one Major remained, and all the Minors were taken down. Four Zealots had been killed trying to board the Warthog, and then another fell to Will's great aim.

The Brutals began charging, sprinting uphill at an impossible rate. The turret got one, but the other two smashed their way into the base. Robbie put one down himself, while the other Marines struggled against the last, which greatly wounded Akov with a mauler shot.

"You okay, sir?' Mike wasn't going to let _anyone _die.

"Long as I've got a gun."

"Good to hear it."

The remaining Zealots were wiped out by the turret.

--"Next wave coming in. It's heavy"--

"Any luck with the contact?!" Mike was worried. "We can't keep this up forever!"

--"Plasma interference just shot through the roof! No way to contact anything far away"--

"Sir" A wounded Marine broke in. "We've got two Gauss hogs. If you can get to them, you might be able to escape."

At that moment, the cavalry arrived. First came two Ghosts and a Chopper, driven by a Brutal. Right after came a Chieftain Bulk.

"Gunter! Get the damned Ghosts _before _they kill our Hog" Mike shouted, hoping that Gunter had good aim. Then, right before his eyes, the Ghosts seemingly exploded for no reason. Everyone yelled to congratulate Gunter.

"How about that Chopper?" Mike yelled up as the Chopper bore down on their Warthog, which was effectively eliminating the Bulk.

"I'm out of rockets up here!" Gunter replied. "Gimme the damn turret!" he yelled as he ripped the turret off the tripod and began firing at the Chopper. By now, the Marines were at total war, with grenades and gunshots rising over their voices. A resounding CRASH pierced the noise, and everyone looked over to see the Chopper plowing through a mutilated Warthog. Right then, the worst happened: two Wraiths dropped and immediately began firing at the Marines.

"Everybody fall back to the base!!!" Akov yelled. The situation was turning desperate.

Everyone got back inside safely, just as the War Chief got in.

"I will murder the Heretics!!" It yelled, smashing people around with its Gravity Hammer. Even though everyone was pumping it full of lead, It's Over-armor withstood the attack. But then, Robbie jumped it, slamming it to the floor and shoving 3 rounds of buckshot into its head.

"Get to the Warthog" he yelled, racing to its hidden location.

Taking the driver seat, Mike yelled to Gunter "How 'bout a Wraith for breakfast? Or a Chopper?"

"I'll have the combo!" Gunter yelled back, decimating the Chopper with a single shot. The Warthog ran circles around the Wraiths, smashing them up. Will and Parke joined them on a Mongoose while they were cleaning up the rest of them.

When they were done, they got ready to head for Rat's Nest.

"After a while, you should fall back to Headquarters" Mike yelled as they raced down the path out of the base. As they were leaving, a Zealot sprang out, landing on top of the Warthog and smashing its sword through the engine before Gunter took care of it. Farther down the path, something went wrong with the steering.

"Watch out! I'm losin' her! Hold on to something, we're going down in the canyon!!!"


End file.
